Friday’s Mini-Report, 7.14.17

* Muslim ban: “A federal judge in Hawaii on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government cannot apply a key part of President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘travel ban’ to bar entry of grandparents and some other relatives of people legally in the country.”

* Legal shake-up: “President Donald Trump is adding to his growing roster of lawyers handling investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election, NBC News confirmed Friday. Veteran Washington lawyer Ty Cobb is the latest to join the president’s legal team, a White House official said.”

* On a related note: “The National Law Journal reported Friday that Jamie Gorelick will no longer represent [Jared] Kushner in the Russia investigation and that Abbe Lowell, a prominent criminal defense lawyer, will be Kushner’s main counsel on those matters.”

* Striking new details: “Peter W. Smith, a Republican political activist and financier from Chicago who mounted an effort to obtain former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails from Russian hackers, died on May 14 after asphyxiating himself in a hotel room in Rochester, Minn., according to local authorities. He was 81 years old.”

* Desiree Fairooz: “The activist who was convicted of disrupting Congress after laughing during a confirmation hearing for now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions had her conviction thrown out by a District of Columbia Superior Court judge on Friday.”

* The White House is considering a plan that would return some Russian compounds in the U.S. to Putin’s government. Sebastian Gorka said, “We want to give collaboration and cooperation a chance.”

* Missed deadline: “President Trump’s commission to fight the opioid epidemic will miss a deadline to file an interim report on the crisis for a second time, according to a notice set to be released Friday.”

* If Mitch McConnell’s plan were popular, this wouldn’t be necessary: “Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on Thursday revealed an alternate proposal to repeal Obamacare as the current Republican health care bill remains in legislative limbo.”